Parents Visit: Part 1

Well, here is a multiple part blog again. We were too busy enjoying family to blog earlier this week, so I'll see what I can do to catch this up this weekend. On Saturday, Jeremy and I drove north to Salida to see my parents, aunt and uncle, and my cousin and her husband. My cousin, Mandy, lives in Salida (about 2 hours north of us), but we hadn't been able to visit her all year. So, we (parents and aunt and uncle) planned to meet at her house. I had not yet met Mandy's husband, Quentin, of five years, and I hadn't seen her for about seven years. It was so good to see her again. Quentin is a very funny guy! It was very easy to talk with them both, as though years had not passed. There is a picture of Mandy and Quentin to the left. My parents and other relatives arrived shortly after Jeremy and I. My dad's back was not doing well since that morning especially. Before they left home, he felt a little uneasy about all the traveling that he would be doing, but they put a twin mattress and box spring in the back of the van, and tried it. He did really good til their last morning in Kansas. So, when they got to Salida, he came in looking pretty bad; you could see pain in his face. He and mom gave us hugs and headed to the emergency room to see what they could do about dad's back. Sherry and Bruce (my aunt and uncle) gave us hugs and then headed to look around downtown Salida. So, Mandy, Quentin, Jeremy, and I just hung out and had a lot of fun. Around 4pm, the boys headed to Sherry and Bruce's cabin about 45 min north of Salida, near Mt. Princeton. We girls went grocery shopping for supper. Bruce and Sherry's cabin was just recently built and is beautiful (see pic to right). We had steaks and potatoes for supper and enjoyed more conversation.

The next day, we (minus dad) traveled to see St. Elmo, a historic mining town. It is a neat place to see. I think that people are working to restore some of the buildings. There were a lot of tourists there for as little as there is to actually see. There is a picture to the left of the old post office and view in St. Elmo.

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Jeremy, Sherry, my mom, and I went for a hike up Mt. Princeton. We were just doing a short hike and not working to get to the top, which would definitely be a long hike. This is Sherry, me, and Mom in the picture to the right; what a view! Well, because of time, we decided to turn around at one point on the trail. It was a place where there was a wash going down the mountain. I, jokingly, said, "We could just slide down this." My mom said, "I think we could just follow this down." And somehow, that is exactly what we attempted to do. See Jeremy sliding down the rocks in the picture to the left. We got quite a ways down before we came to a drop off point. There was lots of big horn sheep poop at this point as well - they must have been contemplating what they should do too! Jeremy and I took a scenic picture (to the right) of the stopping point; if you enlarge it, you can see all the sheep scat on the rock. We decided there was no way around, and we needed to go back up the wash (which we had mostly slid down on our butts) and then take the trail back. If you look closely in the picture to the left, you can see mom and me climbing back up the wash. Jeremy and Sherry decided to take the grassy, but also steep route back up. Needless to say, it was quite a task getting back up, and we were later than expected getting back to the cabin. It is a memory though and I wouldn't take it back. Lesson learned... there is a trail for a reason, and shortcuts are usually not shortcuts.

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We left the cabin after the hike to head to Rocky Mountain Mennonite Camp (RMMC) to meet Jeremy's parents. See part 2 about our time with them.